When asked to build a greenhouse on zero budget, Sebastien Ramirez took a trip to the scrap yard and came back with…windscreens. His design mimics rooftop tiles, overlapping the screens to make the structure watertight and allow for solar convection heating.
Ramirez’s penchant for recovery over recycling embraces a growing movement. Eastex Materials Exchanges, which span the east of England from North Yorkshire to Essex, are amongst a growing group of service providers that allow organisations to sell or give away surplus industrial wares. With everything from trouser presses and pheasant feathers, to waste fuel oil residues offered by big players including John Lewis and Her Majesty’s Prison Service, the burgeoning recovery industry clearly has scope for growth.

As Kim Coley, Eastex Coordinator at the Peterborough Environment City Trust says, “People are keen and able to commit to more sustainable strategies. The difficult thing is letting people know of the channels to help them do so.”

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